


The Nights Together

by Silberias



Category: Jodhaa-Akbar (2008)
Genre: F/M, Sharing a Bed, Short Chapters, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Unrepentant Fluff, Vignette, going to sleep together, the us', vignette style, waking up together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-02-11
Packaged: 2019-10-24 10:07:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 1,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17702324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silberias/pseuds/Silberias
Summary: Jodhaa and Jalal gradually become more intimate with one another over the course of seven nights.[Treats 'In Lamhon Ke Daaman Mein' as more of a montage than a single event]





	1. Chapter 1

The first night she spends with him they sit curled together and watch the stars while she hums soft half-tunes so as not to disturb the rest of anyone else in the palace. Her gaze is fixed on the sky, eyes darting here and there from constellation to constellation. Jalal can't tear his eyes from her, though, and misses the shooting star she gasps and delights over. Jodhaa's smile is indulgent, and her censure is teasing more than anything as she lectures him about the luck a shooting star can bring him if he sees it fall. He cannot find the words to tease her back, only pulling her to him to shower her face with kisses. They sleep side by side in his bed and he wakes to find she his wriggled close to him and her forehead is pressed against his shoulder as she sleeps, her hands clutching his arm to keep him still and close.


	2. Chapter 2

The second night she spends with him they dine together alone for the first time, and when their meal is cleared away they once again watch the stars--but this time she lets him hold her as he stands just behind her. She watches the stars and moon as they shine behind wispy clouds and her husband contents himself with inspecting her fingers, her wrists, the palms of her hands. Jodhaa lets herself relax into his arms, trembling when he moves to kiss her shoulder where her veil has slipped away. The two of them are innocently rumpled before they ever lay down to sleep and as her eyes slip closed Jodhaa can't help but stare at their hands, still linked together despite the slight distance between them as they go to sleep. 


	3. Chapter 3

The third night Jalal arranges for a comfortable place to lounge together and they tell stories to one another late into the evening. He tells her of the first time he managed to get the King of Mankeshwar to giggle like a little boy--hastily but poorly concealed in the court--as Jalal verbally sparred with one of the lords gathered before the imperial throne. Jodhaa laughs, she laughs so hard it almost sounds like crying, and haltingly she tells him of why a Hindu would think the joke so hilarious as to laugh in the middle of an Emperor's court. Through words slurred with her own mirth his wife makes an admiring note of Todar Mal's patience and unflappable nature. She settles herself against where his leg is propped up and tells her own stories of convincing Sujamal and Bhagwan Das to climb one of the garden walls to pluck a flower she _swore_ was there--and Bhagwan Das' petulance in losing when Sujamal returned with a handful of leaves tied together with a thread. Jodhaa had proudly woven the 'flower' in her hair for several hours before her mother caught her. They don't mean to fall asleep together on the floor that night and Jalal wakes up sore and aching--but his front is warm where Jodhaa clings to him for warmth.


	4. Chapter 4

The fourth night Jodhaa wears her hair loose on a mad impulse to see what Jalal will do. He had had such pretty things to say when he'd first snatched her turban away all those weeks ago and seen her hair come tumbling out all at once. She is rewarded when her husband spends the evening kissing her and carding his fingers through her hair. They sleep in his bed again, settling down when he has helped her braid her long locks back once more so they do not tangle, and Jodhaa feels it the most natural thing in the world for him to curl behind her with an arm over her side. She wakes well before dawn and lets herself drift between wakefulness and dozing with her husband's breath feathering lightly at the nape of her neck as he rests, lost to the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd love to hear what you've thought of this so far!


	5. Chapter 5

The fifth night almost doesn't happen for he is required to attend to urgent business of the Empire that runs the whole day and half the night. When Jalal enters his rooms, his shoulders rounded with exhaustion and not a little loneliness, his wife is curled up on one side of his bed. Her sleep is undisturbed as he readies for sleep and slips in beside her. When he wakes the sun has long since risen but Jodhaa is still there--getting ready for the day and putting on her jewellery and veil herself, adjusting each piece so they fall perfectly. When she notices he is awake she is quick to his side to press a kiss to his cheek while softly letting him know his prayer rug has been laid out for him already before scurrying away to her own prayers.


	6. Chapter 6

The sixth night is different. They eat together, tell stories, sit close to one another as they have the last several nights, and then she feels his eyes on her--turning to look at him she sees love in his eyes that sets her heart pounding. Once again curled together he has no trouble leaning over her, to bring them close enough to share the same breath. Jodhaa winds her fingers into his hair when he kisses her--kisses her cheek, her forehead, almost her lips--and then all at once looking into his eyes she is struck with fear. What frightens her she could not voice even if he'd demanded it--but Jalal lets her pull away until the intensity lessens and they are both relieved that she does not require much distance after all. Just a little bit, enough space to breathe. He does not kiss her again that night, but even as sleep claims her Jodhaa can feel his eyes on her. She remembers his words of their wedding night-- _I will be near, when your heart permits._


	7. Chapter 7

The seventh night she is the one who is late, but she is radiant in new silks that she happily shows off to him when she finally steps into his rooms. When she settles at his side Jalal can do nothing but stroke her hair and try to memorize her face. The way the lamplight made her eyes dark as onyx, the golden jewellery in her hair sparkling, the jewels in her earrings catching sparks and winks of the light. Jodhaa was watching him just as intently, quiet and waiting for him to take whatever lead he intended on. Haltingly, for he knew the poem better in Persian, Jalal whispered of a garden of flowers without scent--beautiful, but empty, until she had come to him bearing kisses of jasmine and rose. Jodhaa had smiled, pressing one hand to his cheek before he leaned in to kiss her in earnest.

When he retreated a moment she looked up at him and he was reminded, suddenly, painfully, of every time she had pulled away somehow in the past. This time, though, she seemed to search his gaze and then make up her mind. She did not just pull away--Jodhaa got up from their nest of pillows and Jalal felt his stomach clench at her rejection. That is, until he understood where Jodhaa was going.

His heart thundered in even his teeth as he watched Jodhaa arrange herself in the middle of his bed--posing exactly as she had been on their wedding night, but this time in real anticipation as a bride and not like it was her deathbed. As many nights as they had spent together of late she had never--there had been no invitation, no offering of, no indication--suddenly humbled Jalal could only stare at her until she reached out a hand to beckon him closer. Rising as if in a trance Jalal fought to breathe normally, his steps careful so he did not stumble to her like a green boy.

Jodhaa's eyes found his as he knelt next to her and he was lost.


End file.
